“Why Bipolar People Should Not have Dinner Parties”

The title of this blog post was suggested to me by MellowJohnny. He said it in a moment of frustration at my stressing out over a fundraising dinner party I held on Sunday night. He proclaimed, “You need to write a blog called ‘Why Bipolar People Should NOT have Dinner Parties!'” We laughed about it loudly at dinner that night when a few of my best friends were sipping wine and taste-testing vegan lasagne. I thought that I would address a few sides of this statement…

1. Why bipolar people should not have dinner parties:
– it causes unnecessary stress to an already stressful existence/life
– it causes unnecessary stress on the people around that already deal with stress due to their bipolar friend/significant other
– it makes one aware of how many flaws a bipolar person has that he/she usually hides away from the world in order to appear “normal” (as a bp person, I feel like my flaws are infinitely worse than others because of being bp)

2. Why bipolar people SHOULD have dinner parties, just like anyone else:
– the stress on a bipolar person is really no different than the stress on someone who is not bipolar (maybe it’s an A-type personality thing rather than just a bp thing, sometimes it’s hard to tell)
– they are fun in the end and instils peace in being around good people
– it creates joy and a feeling of connectedness that might not otherwise exist
– it makes a person give their house a good cleaning; bipolar people sometimes need external inspiration to get them going on things that they should do all the time

3. What a bipolar person needs in order to pull off a dinner party
– patient and helpful friends and family
– the ability to plan – it helps alleviate the stress
– guests who will over-look details that were not perfect (this is why I don’t invite my family to my dinner parties – yikes!)
– friends to talk to on the phone while freaking out about a dirty floor and unorganized office; for example: Me “Where are people going to put their coats?!” Friend “They will find a place. Don’t worry.”

4. What NOT to say to a bipolar person having a dinner party:
“You should write a blog titled ‘Why bipolar people should not have dinner parties!'”

On a different, but related note, MellowJohnny and I are holding a fundraiser on December 16th. Details will be coming by the end of the week! FYI, there will be DELICIOUS vegan lasagne. Our taste-testers were great in their constructive criticism. Bakeship Enterprise and I will be lasagne-making machines! So if MellowJohnny was worried about a little dinner party, he needs to prepare himself for the BIG dinner party! Crazy quadrupled!

3 Responses to “Why Bipolar People Should Not have Dinner Parties”

I think the real title of the article should be, and I’m sure Caillou would agree: “Why Bipolar People Should Make Too Much Food At Their Dinner Parties So They Have To Feed The Leftovers To Their Dog”
xo

Great post. I look forward to being invited to your fabulously disorganized diner parties. Who wants to attend a terribly sterile function where you have to get worried about wearing the right suit or dress. I would rather have fun with my friends and talk shit about racing, triathlons, training and anything else that is bugging me in life.

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What is VT?

This website is one that I, Crystal Clarke, started in 2007 with big ideas. It is morphing slowly into a resourceful website for vegans and athletes alike. I put my personal touch on this website in the recipes and the training blog, as I'm a writer, a scientist, a triathlete & a vegan. So what is a vegan triathlete? Well...

vegan. n. vee-gahn. - a person who refrains from using any animal product whatever for food, clothing, or any other purpose.triathlete. n. someone who participates in races consisting of swimming, biking, and running in that order; there are several varying distances with some standard distances:
Sprint: 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run
Olympic: 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Half Ironman: 2km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run
Ironman: 3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run

Who am I?

My name is Crystal Clarke. I'm a vegan triathlete. I've been vegan since 2002 and a triathlete since 2003. Since then I have completed 1 Ironman, 4 half IMs, several Olympic triathlons, and many other triathlons, duathlons, running races, and biking races. My goal for each race is to finish. I'm pretty slow, but can be a middle-of-the-pack person if I'm not injured and train consistently.

In addition to being a vegan triathlete, I'm a writer, I'm an Agrologist, I'm a soil scientist, I'm a knitter, I'm an anti-consumer, I'm an environmentalist, I'm a budding Buddhist, I'm a yogi, I'm a student of life, and I'm bipolar. I'm a lot of things! I don't fit into any one category - that's what I think sets me apart from other athlete blogs.